Here are some more images from the third anniversary celebration at Sunset Gondola.
I don't even remember the joke Tim was telling me here...
I just remember that it was dang funny.
At some point, Andrew was talking about going "snail hunting" with an old Venetian. The story was great - a classic McHardy tale. Next thing I know, there's a garden snail cruising by. We took a few photos and then Andrew put it back.
Synco cracks up.
The obligatory "group shot"
from left to right:
Andrew McHardy, Eric Johnson, "Trish the dish", Grigory-never...", Senior Synco, Mike Almquist, Charlene, "Barrissimo" McCabe, Eric Sjoberg, Allison Wilson, "Rotto Sorriso", Jeremy, Darren, Erin Lee Adamson, me.
Andrew McHardy, Eric Johnson, "Trish the dish", Grigory-never...", Senior Synco, Mike Almquist, Charlene, "Barrissimo" McCabe, Eric Sjoberg, Allison Wilson, "Rotto Sorriso", Jeremy, Darren, Erin Lee Adamson, me.
If you were there and I missed your name or got it wrong, send me a "Hey Greg, you're a jack-ass" e-mail or comment and I'll square it away.
12 comments:
Have you heard about the rest of the evening?
what happens at __________________
stays at _________________
Nice party!
BTW, those two lamp cages, mounted on the front-sides of the gondola, look really weird. Is that some kind of officially mandated safety feature (me thinks the green-red pair is for ships, not boats)?
I think the "lamp cages" look cool.
GREAT night. Thanks for putting it up here, Greg!
Hope you don't mind, I borrowed a few shots to share with my facebook friends.
John - Yeah, sounds like it turned "interesting" later.
Next time I'll stick around a little longer :o)
Bepi - you never cease to crack me up!
Tamas - here in the US we have certain guidelines required, regardless of whether or not our boats are fishing boats or gondolas. The the lights on the boats at Sunset Gondola were custom made by the owners to fit their boats. We as gondola owners have come up with several different approaches. The ones that Tim has are probably the best looking ones I've seen. The red and green are typical navigation lights in this country - for big or small boats, but with rowing boats we can go with white all around - which is what you see here. The lantern approach is popular as it seems to fit the boats well. The gondolas at Sunset also have one hanging from the stern.
Anonymous - I agree with you, but dammit, show yourself! Names people, I want NAMES!
HA HA HA!
Grig - feel free to use any shots you want from the Sunset posts from that night. If you want to use any other photos on the blog, just ask. Unless they're not mine, you can use them too.
Keep watching, videos will be up soon.
If I had a gondola, I would make those mandated lanterns flip-up, like the headlamps of a Ferrari Daytona, so they can be hidden underdeck in broad daylight.
Considering how strictly they regulate the look and feel of venetian gondolas, the "ambulance"-like lanterns are a bit distracting from a "purist" point of view.
The reason you see the lamps on-deck in these photos is because the boats were prepared to go out in the dark. We had a dockside celebration, with food and drink carefully laid out by Tim and his staff, and then when everyone was there and ready, we climbed on the boats. Bepi Venexiano (AKA Tim) spent the better part of his day getting everything prepared - including the boats.
Normally the lanterns are stowed either on the dock or under the bow of the gondola in the daytime.
To have them pop up like the headlights of a sports car, while certainly a novel idea, presents at least two potential problems:
- It would requirecutting holes in the deck and potentially compromising the structural integrity of both deck and rail, especially if there were any flexing as the gondola navigated through rough water or wakes from power boats.
- It would introduce another place for rain and wave water to enter the boat, but more importantly, to drip and run down on wiring and an electrical system.
Ferrari headlights on a gondola would be super cool, like James Bond even, but the cost to make them, as compared to Tim's wedge-based lanterns, would an expensive alternative.
If you ever get a gondola of your own and mount pop-ups, I'd love to see it.
Tomas,
In the state of California a vessel under oars is only required to produce a light in time to avoid a collision. As boaters here are less used to gondolas than Venice it is vital to have more than the minimum requirement for lighting. The single, battery operated, bulb found on the canon on most gondolas in Venice is inadequate for navigation here. So, like a good Venetian would, I improvised.
Thanks for the clarification! So the lanterns are not permanently affixed, then it's a flawless solution even for purists! (I just assumed, falsely, that the whole dual assembly was nailed to the deck for good.)
BTW, as for Greg's suggestion, I am not aware of any gondolas in Hungary yet, although a local sporting group on the Danube imported a genuine venetian sandolo a few years ago (which was widely reported in the press as a "gondola").
Otherwise, there is one place here who are somewhat touting the possibility of gondola ops, but I'm not sure they can do it due to area constraints.
The bay is triangular in shape and quite scenic, but prone to winds and only 700 meters long x 320 meters wide at the base. Essentially they could run ovals and nothing else, although dragon boats already occur there.
With regards to gondola "visibility", does the ferro make a difference for radar? I would guess such a big piece of flat metal produces a bright signal from 90deg side and maybe none directly astern or to the front, maybe confusing motorboaters. Do you need to carry a retro-reflector?
We don't worry about radar,
weworry about the drunk idiot in the bay cruiser. He's the one who'll hit you.
He's got his fifth martini in one hand, his other hand is on his girlfriend's knee, and he's trying to tell one of his friends a funny joke while steering with an elbow or a knee.
He's probably also got music blasting and the lights are on IN the cabin.
To survive as a gondolier in most American waterways, you have to expect the worst.
Don't get me wrong - all American boaters aren't idiots - most are terrific.
But it only takes one to wreck your day.
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